EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE -PART SIX-
by Starskylicious
Summary: A story of silence, hurt, love and redemption with a glimpse of hope and a promise of a future. WARNING: Physical and mental torture.


**ACT 34 – PHASE TWO -**

"Excuse me, Miss..? You can't enter the building without identification."

The boy in blue was very kind and professional. It was his first assignment, and he was working solo.

"Oh! Is it something wrong? What happened?" The woman was nervous, and she held her purse with a dead grip.

"Your name, lady, otherwise I won't let you in." The young cop said professionally, and also menacing.

"Oh yes. I am Joséphine Babineaux, but you can call me Fifi."

"Okay, Miss Babineaux, do you live here?" The boy in blue asked her politely.

"Oh, no! I just do the cleaning. I - I work here; with the Coopers, so may I come in?"

The boy thought about it for some time.

Fifi was waiting for his decision; she had learned not to ask many questions when it came to Police's procedures.

Ken had told her.

She had learned not to trust anyone. A Boy in blue or not.

Ken had taught her that too.

That's why she didn't tell the cop at the door that she worked for Hutch either.

It was 11.30 am Saturday morning.

*********************S&H***********************

"What? How come you didn't find anything?" Dobey was exasperated. "I feel like I'm leading a bunch of rookies here. For Christ's sake! What's going on? It's 2 pm. It's been almost ten hours. I've put three teams on Commission and what have I got? Nothing!"

Simmons and Babcock had just phoned to the Precinct.

They had gone to the Los Tilos' Road address.

They had already talked to the Landlord; they had spoken to the neighbors, and they had even gone to the work Agency, which Ian used to work for.

Nothing.

Everybody thought that Ian had gone home; the problem was that nobody knew where his home would be. Worst of all, it had been more than one month that the man was nowhere to be seen.

However, nobody was sure. Maybe it was more than one month, maybe less. Who knows? Nobody took notice of his absence indeed.

The man was invisible.

Anyway, since Babcock and Simmons had the searching warrant, they entered Ian's house. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything of interest, except the fact that the man was a toy car's junkie. He had a passion for collectible cars. The apartment looked more than a museum than a house itself. Ian had lots of modeling cars and magazines about cars and even lots of Matchbox and Hot Wheels' boxes still unopened that crowded all the shelves.

However that circumstance, everything was in its place.

The apartment looked tidy and neat; there were vegetables and milk in the fridge.

One-month-old...

But the man's clothes were still there. Undoubtedly it seemed like before he had gone; he had packed just a few things and left.

Where did he go? That was the question.

Even the rent was paid, so no one was suspicious.

Everybody agreed that Ian was a shy but sweet man that seemed not to have any significant relationship with no one in his life.

No friends, no family. The man was a loner.

As if he were a nobody; as if he had no history.

When Simmons and Babcock finished their task at Ian's place, they called Metro. They asked for a team lab to search for fingerprints or something of interest; they also asked Dobey permission to go back to the Yellow Cab Company.

Regardless their previous visit, they decided to go again to talk with the Cab Company's Manager.

There was something about Harvey Bickle, the manager, that didn't suit them well; something that nagged the detectives since the day before, so they decided they had to check with the man again.

To try to find another clue.

It was the only place left to go, and they thought that something else could show up.

The cops needed more confirmations.

"Okay. Go to Rosecrans' Ave. and for Christ's sake, Babcock! Bring me something!" The Captain had obliged them.

*********************S&H***********************

When they arrived at the Cab Parking Lot, they found that Bickle was barely sober and didn't seem to focus. The manager refused to add any further information about his former employee, so, at first, the only thing that the detectives found out was the certainty that he despised Ian. At the very mention of Fletcher's name, Bickle shuddered in disgust, and it showed.

"What are you two doing down here, again? I've already told you everything I knew about that moron!" the man said peevishly.

At such a display of rebellious attitude, the cops thought that they should force another kind of reaction. The manager's annoying behavior enraged the two detectives who decided to put a little pressure on the cold-blooded man.

"You, sorry excuse of a man, you listen to me," Babcock crossed the front desk where he was sitting at and grabbed him by his collar. "You better tell us everything you know about Fletcher. You better give us everything you have, you piece of shit! Or you rather come with us to the Precinct to face charges as an accomplice to the kidnap of two Police Officers and for obstructing an investigation! You dig, idiot?"

Harvey started stuttering.

Simmons said, "Look, Babs, seems like he is a very reflexive person, isn't he? Now you begin to remember, shitty scumbag?"

The manager stayed speechless at the bad cop-bad cop acting. He felt he had no way out of them, so he said worried and waved his hands desperately. "No, no, please! Don't take me to the Police Station, please? I - I - I'll tell you everything."

Simmons frowned and looked at Babcock who straddled a chair in front of the diminutive man, a little smile drawn on his face, "Everything? We are all ears," he said and waited.

"Well," The little man rasped his throat, "The last day that we saw Fletcher was the 21st July. I remember well because that day, Doughboy here, collided his car with an eighteen-wheeler."

Babcock shrugged, "And?" the cop said while he unwrapped one of Bickle's chewing-gums.

"Well, after that day he just disappeared! He - he didn't return the car to the lot either, and that was weird since he usually was pretty obsessive with his ride."

Simmons snorted, "Bickle, straight to the point. We're in a hurry here."

The man nodded, "Well, since we didn't know anything about Fletcher, and he didn't report either, we - we - we called the Insurance Company, and we totaled it!" The man stammered, nervous and the cops frowned, Babcock asked. "I don't get it which car did you totaled?"

The man continued, "Well, not Ian's car, of course! It was Doughboy's, you know he wasn't insured, and the crash was awful so we - we changed the plates… we always have a set of additional plates here you know, and scraped the engine's number. Okay, okay, okay, we cut a deal with the Agent, let's just say that we pretended that his was Fletcher's car, and he authorized the payment." The little man laughed relief at the absence of any reaction, "I should have cashed my insurance policy in years ago!" He smiled, nervously.

"Oh," Simmons added, "Surprisingly lucrative."

"Yeah, we supposed that we were going to recover Ian's cab later too, so it was a good deal. Killed two birds with one stone." He shrugged and waited for the cop's reprimand. However, neither Simmons nor Babcock said a word. They remained silent and dumbfounded, and above all, they started to get increasingly worried. The manager kept talking, "So, yes! I confess, we fooled the Insurance Company claiming that Ian's car had been the one that had been wrecked, what else? The business is short of money and…" The man stopped, the inexpressive cop's faces were unreadable for him, he finished saying. "But yesterday, well, we didn't know anything about Fletcher's car until yesterday, when another driver found it abandoned in an alley near the Hollywood Boulevard."

Harvey Bickle waited for some reaction; so far neither Babcock nor Simmons were interested in the trap to the insurance company, so the manager relaxed a bit, but then the detectives asked, concerned.

"You found it yesterday? Where exactly?"

The man got scared again, "Oh, I don't know! As I said, near Hollywood Boulevard. Jim found it; someone had changed its plates too, but it's our car. We sent the mechanic yesterday night to drive it here, and he confirmed it with the engine's number. It's over there! … has blood stains on the back seat, so we took it to the Parking lot and left it there." And he signaled to the rear end of the lot.

The detectives stood up; they were upset. "I'm afraid you have to come with us," Simmons said.

"I better call my lawyer. He will know how to deal with the Insurance Company." Harvey hurriedly said.

"We don't give a damn about your illegal businesses in the Insurance market. You're a participant of a kidnapping of two Police Officers. That's a Federal Offense, and as such, you'll be punished in a Court of Law depending on the mode of your intervention in the crime!"

"But I did nothing!" The man said desperately.

"That's the reason you have to come with us, asshole!" Simmons finished.

They took the manager, the mechanic, and Jim, the other driver who had found the car, to Metro and booked them.

Before they left, they took Fletcher's personal file too.

At last, they thought, they had something new and something that may be right among many bad things. Though the File provided little information, the Police had a new lead and the prove of Ian's existence.

The man wasn't a fidget of their imaginations. The short and flaxen-haired man was not a ghost.

Ian Fletcher had been born on the 4th of July in 1944 in the San Francisco Bay Area. That was all the File said. Hence, when Babcock and Simmons arrived at Metro, Dobey immediately called the San Francisco PD searching for Ian's personal information. The man had no police records, but he was listed, so the SFPD got to his family on Market St. and asked everything about him. So far, the only remarkable thing about Ian Fletcher seemed to be that he quit High School at sophomore's year because his schoolmates bullied him. They also found out that he was the middle son of the three children of a railroad worker and that he was a loner who used to go home twice in the year.

He loved to celebrate both, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, which coincided with his birthday. Regardless of his strange childish behavior toward collectible cars, which granted him his schoolmates' past rejection, the man seemed to be a family man. His brothers and mom said that he loved being with them and his nephews and nieces.

Those were the only significant things to highlight about him; those things and the fact that he hadn't called his mom since July the 20th as well, and the woman was anxious about it.

Nothing else.

Nothing.

Nothing linked him to Starsky, neither to Hutch, let alone to Russell Wayne Bromley.

Russell Wayne Bromley. That other mystery.

Aside from the fact that both men had disappeared for more than one month ago, nothing about their disappearances seemed to fit in this nonsense puzzle. So far, the differences were, in fact, the only coincidence.

Caroline and that note connected Ian to Starsky's kidnapping and the white folder, scattered at Venice Place related Huggy's former employee named Russell to Hutch's absence.

Although, there was nothing around Ian Fletcher and Russell Wayne Bromley that arouse any suspicion or connect them to the detectives.

Strike one, they thought.

*********************S&H***********************

Hutch was afraid. He had been trying, by all means, during the last hours to find a way to escape from the lurid basement to no avail.

The sun was up, so he realized it was past midday

The small windows that were facing the street had always been tempting for him although they were at a considerable height, and they were minuscule.

However, in his desperation, and while Starsky rested and Parry was gone again, he had tried to reach them. He had been thinking tirelessly to approach the little windows, shouting through them into the street to get some help, yet nothing had happened.

_"It was no use,_" he thought.

After all and in case that he would have succeeded what could have he done with Starsky? There was no way that his sick friend could have gone out on his own through those tiny slits neither he could have helped him. Nobody had heard him.

So he forgot about them.

Seemed that they were stuck in hell and with no way out.

"So? Did it work?"

Suddenly Parry's voice took Hutch out of his reverie. He was carrying an elegant bouquet of Daffodils in his hand this time... "The second phase, I mean, how did it go? Have you already said everything you needed to tell him, hugged him enough? Touched him enough until he finally vanishes, and you lose him forever?" The Welsh laughed and showed Hutch the flowers "Do you like them? Pretty, don't?"

"Please, don't do it!" Hutch said desperately. Parry didn't respond, so the flaxen-haired man tried again, still without looking at him and staring at his sleeping partner. "Parry, listen to me, please? Do not kill him."

The wicked man turned around and laughed, surprised. "Please? And why should I have to listen to you or please you, Hutchinson?", he said.

"Because I love him." Hutch made a pause swallowing the lump he had in his throat "Because you love him, too. That's not enough reason? A good reason?"

Parry stayed silent, for a long time, just looking at Starsky, scrutinizing every inch of the broken and beautiful body.

That mere fact gave Hutch some hope.

The blond-haired man saw Parry looking at his friend in a loving, almost adorable way while he slept; the man seemed to be full of emotion and tenderness. It was the only moment during the past two days that the Welsh had shown any shape of love.

For some little time, Hutch had hope._ "Perhaps,"_ he thought.

Parry walked to the board, where all the tragedy had taken place and quietly touched Starsky.

Love. He loved him. But he also felt desire. And hatred...

The Brunet was resting.

And the shafts of sun lights that entered the room were mingling with his breaths. With the thrilling vibrations of Starsky's short breaths that were still being expelled, explosively; freed in his latter clatters, which were burning his volatile life energy.

It was like Starsky was slowly vanishing like he was being emptied.

Parry was grateful for that, and so was Hutch, though for different reasons.

Hutch couldn't grasp what was happening in Madoc's head. Sometimes it looked like the Welsh loved his partner, that he would save him. Sometimes it seemed like he hated him, and he felt miserable... "or maybe he was remorseful? Or sad? Or suffered? Or repented?" The blond cop was confused.

Suddenly Parry made one simple motion, and he extended his hand to Starsky and shook his head. Hutch was waiting for him to end the nightmare. He thought that right there, at his partner's side, seeing the brunet so peaceful and vulnerable the Welsh would surrender; the sheer force of his love would make him give up.

"What a pity, indeed," Madoc said nodding at first and then he shook his head. "It's a real shame that we will lose him."

Nothing.

Only cruel malice and cold indifference sheltered his evil soul.

"Please Parry, don't kill him. Kill me!" Hutch whispered insisting.

"Hutchinson, you wanna be the sacrificial lamb? It's not all cracked up to be. We've had fun, yeah, but now the fun's over, and it's time to play for keeps! We've already discussed this, okay? Come on! Stay away from David, you've been beside him long enough. I'm tired sick of your antics." He shouted, "Go and sit in your chair!"

There was a long silence, and Hutch started to walk, he felt he had nothing left to lose or maybe he had, but didn't care. The blond man was confused, but, above all, he was tired and scared and sad, so he made his ultimate decision and stopped. He was going to face the monster, so he turned around.

"I will not listen to you," he said with anger and without seeing him in the face.

"Oh please, you asshole!" Parry said dispiritedly. He took his gun again, threatening Hutch and pointing it at Starsky's temple and talked spelling out word by word, as a menace. "I said, get away from him!"

Though Hutch started moving again, he suddenly felt the urge to get back to him, one last time. So he turned around and begged, in one ultimate intent.

"Please, don't…" One more time, infuriating Parry.

"Oh, c'mon, I'm tired of this shit! You keep walking," the madman shouted.

Hutch remained serene, imperturbable. But he didn't move. He wouldn't do it anymore. He wasn't going to consent. He wouldn't leave Starsky alone.

The Welsh cocked the hammer, pointing it again at Starsky's temple, who slept serenely without being aware of anything.

"I will not move," Hutch challenged.

"You want me to kill him?"

"Yes," Hutch said firmly.

"You! stupid moron!" Parry started to laugh, an evil grin, astonished, when he realized what the idealistic cop intended to. "Okay, if you insist? I have three bullets in my piece for special occasions like this..."Tic," he pulled the gun toward Hutch; "Tac," he pointed it straight at his own temple.

Hutch waited for the blast! He shouted and covered his eyes with his hands, automatically and desperately thinking he would shoot Starsky. But then Parry drew the gun to him, and in one quick motion, shot the blond cop in the leg and put him down on the floor. "And Toe!" the evil man laughed viciously and victorious, "One way or another Hutchinson, you'll see the final installation. What a pity. You had won the best of tickets, and now we are back to phase one, I'm sorry! But in no way, I will let you interfere."

As he approached Hutch to tie him down to the chair and check the severity of the injury he had inflicted, he decided he wouldn't make a tourniquet. The wound was deep, but the shot hadn't compromised any vital part of Hutch's body. Parry knew that in the 6 hours that laid ahead, until midnight, Hutch was not going to bleed to death.

At most, it would weaken him a bit, but nothing life threatening so far.

The blond's death by exsanguinations would occur fatally, but later.

He would be long gone by that time, just like his David.

And the blond would be the eighth.

*********************S&H***********************

It was 6 PM and still, there was no news in the Precinct. Hence, they were all waiting for something new to turn up. Minnie was trying to find the name of the neighborhood in which Parry would attack again, most likely. That was the missed piece, and Dobey had just remembered he had talked to Hutch about it two days before. The neighborhood with the Y in its name.

Undiscoverable.

Parry.

Somehow, Parry's name still lingered in the air.

They were also waiting for some unexpected witnesses to break and tell if they saw something near Hollywood Boulevard where the stolen car had been left. Or at least, for the lab teams to find something at Hutch's place or in that car. Something, anything.

They were desperately waiting for something.

Something, until a flustered and enraged Meredith, arrived at Metro, suddenly.

She was burning.

After Simmons and Babcock had left Venice Place at dawn that same day, they decided to cordon off the area to prevent any intruder to messing with the crime theater. They also requested a patrol to stay at the place until the Lab Team - which was delayed, arrived on the scene. Metro had sent young Steve Conrad, a rookie from Parker, without any experience for that purpose. The boy in blue was visibly surprised and proud because of his astounding assignment.

Starsky and Hutch's legendary partnership was well known around the Precinct, even the whole City, and as every rookie did, he lavishly praised the duo's accomplishments. He also admired them. Steve was euphoric however simple his task was, and he had called his mother in Washington just to let her know that he had been honored with such a delicate mission. He only had to make surveillance at Venice Place and prevent anyone to enter Hutch's Apartment.

Nonetheless his excitement, he had committed a fatal mistake.

Meredith had recently had a bitter argument with Steve Conrad because of that.

That's why she was so perturbed.

*********************S&H***********************

"What's going on Meredith? Why are you so angry?" Dobey asked worriedly.

"Why am I so angry? This Police Department's getting worse and worse every passing day! I don't know what the Superiors teaches the boys at the Academy! How come they have sent a greenhorn like him to Hutch's Place!? At this pace, our crime rate will get higher and higher."

"Meredith you ain't making sense! You know we're running short of people. Why don't you just tell me what has happened?"

"You won't believe it. This boy should be punished, Captain Dobey!"

"For Pete's sake, Joan Meredith, let me be the one who decides whether we must punish him or not and tell me what did he do? You're making a fuss here!" Dobey was getting anxious.

"Fuss?" She whined dissatisfied, "He let Hutch's maid, Fifi, do the house cleaning! That's what he did!" She said bluntly.

"What?" Dobey shouted in anger "He let she did what?"

"Like I said, Captain! She let Fifi, Hutch's housekeeper, clean up the house. The lady entered the Apartment at about 11.30 AM because she works for another tenant, so at first, this 'Steve' granted she the entrance. But turned out that he didn't warn her about the situation at Hutch's place! That was his fatal mistake! Since the lady knew where Hutchinson hides his keys after she finished cleaning the Cooper's Apartment, she went straight to Hutch's place to do her job. The same way she'd been doing it for the past ten years and dear Steve never realized."

"Oh, I just can't believe it."

"Neither did I! But that's exactly what happened. When I arrived at 3 PM with the Lab Team to search for another clue, we didn't find anything. Couldn't find anything. The place looked like a damn O.R."

Dobey felt like a caged beast. Everything was complicated in this case, and it was getting worse every passing second.

The investigation was a chain of errors and difficulties, the worst of them to find his dear friends on time and against all the odds.

He should keep searching.

"Carmichael," Dobey picked up the phone instantly to contact Personnel's Division and asked for information about Conrad, "Yes! I'll wait on line! Okay!" He tapped his fingers on his desk, waiting. The other extension rang, and the Captain motioned Babcock to answer, the voice returned to his phone, and he nodded. "I understand, Carmichael, but next time, you should send someone more experienced; this rookie's incompetence could have cost my men their lives. I know the reasons you've mentioned to me, but anyway, I will formally ask for a one-week suspension, at least, for your man. That way he'll learn."

Lauren Carmichael accepted Dobey's complaints and compromised with the Captain to take matters into the disciplinary forms as soon as possible. She was fond of Starsky and Hutch too.

Dobey hung up the phone.

Babcock hung up the other extension.

The cop looked at his Captain with sorrowful eyes.

"What did you get?" Dobey asked his detective, sensing how distraught he had become.

Babcock scratched his head, closed his eyes and grimaced in sorrow, "The Lab boys, Cap. The blood found in the car; It matches Starsky's."

"Oh, my God! Go and make that man talk. We need to know the exact place where they've found that car. And I don't give a shit if he pledges for his lawyer!" The Captain barked to the void that the two detectives had left behind.

Huggy and Meredith were still there; they couldn't utter a sound.

"And what are the two of you doing? Don't look at me as if I were psychic! I won't find them if you don't help me. Think! Think! Give me a hand! Meredith, tell me what else did you find?" He continued asking.

"Yeah. I'm sorry Captain this is too much…. Anyway," she sighed deflated, "according to Helene Debussy, the proprietor of the restaurant below Venice Place Fifi lives in a bungalow in the Eastern Canal. The girl seems to have a crush on Hutch, and she's been doing the cleaning twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays' afternoons since 1976. Emily Cooper, Hutch's neighbor, gave me her phone number and address. And since she didn't call me back before we came here, we went to her house and left the message with her mother."

"This seems to be an undecipherable puzzle; everything's very complicated. This case I mean..." Dobey felt dejected; he felt like the Gods were against them.

Meredith added totally flustered, "As I said, that rookie should be kicked out of the force! If something goes wrong because of this, I assure you that I will rip his badge off of him!" The mere idea that Starsky could be even in more danger than he already was because of the stupid cop annoyed her.

Fifi could have washed away some important clue at the blond detective's house, indeed. And because of that, everything could go utterly wrong. Meredith had been back in the Precinct with empty hands too.

Like everybody else had been.

*********************S&H***********************

Five hours had passed since he had shot him.

And the blond cop's deterioration was evident; at this rate, Hutch was going to follow suit to his beloved partner's fate, and he would be the eighth one, finally. While the blonde-haired man was cursing obscenities from the floor, tied to his chair, the Welsh started injecting him with a dose of cocaine. He wanted to excite him and keep him alert.

Madoc Parry wanted him to be fully awake and conscious; he wanted Hutch to listening to him, while he told in detail, the reasons why Starsky's death would crown his career. The insane explanation and the filthy justifications he had to give. The reason the deranged dementia was happening. At that point, the blond was a psychological mess but unremittingly tried, to convince Parry that he shouldn't, he couldn't kill his friend. Hutch started feeling more and more broken and started trying to thwart the man's will by all means.

His efforts were in vain.

The only will who happened to be broken was that of him. But he insisted: he told Parry that Starsky was already sick; that the sacrifice wouldn't get the so desired impact. That it was a given that his partner was a dead man, after all; that sooner or later he was going to die. His own words stabbed him. Hutch couldn't believe himself the absurd things he was saying to try to convince Parry not to kill his partner. He told him that he loved him; that Starsky was too good a man to die. That was Hutch's only way to try to protect his buddy and even himself and to cope with his frustration. At least, he was doing something. He would face his intense and profound grief, reluctantly, but later. Otherwise, if he stayed silent, he would feel even worse.

"Shut the fuck up, Hutchinson!" Madoc provided a short and brief response. But Hutch was a mess; he felt like dying, and he couldn't stop.

Losing the person whom he was so grateful for to have chosen him as his friend was unthinkable. However, sometimes, he couldn't help but think about the reasons. He thought that somehow he deserved it and as always he blamed himself, ruthlessly. Relentlessly. _"Starsky, whom I had berated, systematically; to whom I had sometimes humiliated; toward whom I had been sarcastic too. Whom I had taken for granted, who had always been there for me. Oh! I didn't deserve a friend like Starsky, humble, and caring. Invaluable and Irreplaceable. Crucial."_ That was what Starsky was; the person he loved with all his being. How he was going to miss him.

To lose the most unselfish and kindhearted man Hutch had ever known in his whole life was going to be devastating. Losing his dear friend because of cancer would be an unexpected blow to the solar plexus; like the inconsolable outburst that he had experienced after Gunther's attack, a blast that he had hardly recovered from. However, losing him in this heartlessly, this brutal way was simply mutilating. Hutch felt as if he was going to forfeit his own heart, being he so dependent from the brunet. As such, the mere idea of losing Starsky was inconceivable. Starsky was very special for Hutch. He meant more than just a friend to him. The brunet had the uncanny ability to be patient sometimes, and sometimes, he was a whirlwind of energy. Starsky provided instant solace when needed. He was available, always. Reliable and, above all, he was real. Genuine and authentic. The friendship with Starsky was the truest and the most tangible thing in Hutch's life.

Hutch wondered, many times… _"How might I bear Starsky's loss?"_

The flaxen-haired man had thought about it many times. Enough times. That's why he had always been selfish, and he had urged his buddy to come back. And Starsky had always reciprocated, coming back even from death._ "Yeah, I am to blame I am going to lose him; haven't done anything to try to save him, I couldn't... and Starsk wouldn't convince me otherwise as he always did, this time. He just... can't help me anymore"_. Hutch had always wondered, _"why Starsky had been so loyal and faithful to me in return? How had Starsky been able to come back and crawl back to me? My partner knew that I couldn't lose him, that's why"_, he thought.

But could he be able to return this time?

The blond-haired man wasn't sure. So he tried again, unremittingly "Don't Parry, please?" he made a last intent.

But then it was no use, Parry had a plan.

Nobody would convince him otherwise.

The blond and distressed man could tell whatever words he would choose, but Parry wouldn't hear. Hutch realized that the hideous killer remained aloof, anticipating in his excitation the outcome of this nightmare while he was preparing the whole scenario.

"Oh man, I'm drained of listening to you. Shut up! I'm going to gag you. It's time to face the music, Hutchinson but quietly." the Welsh finally said.

Parry was going to kill Starsky, and Hutch was going to watch everything in silence.

*********************S&H***********************

"Ressler, please. I need to talk to you." Cheryl opened Dobey's office door and signaled Sam to go with her into her Office.

The lady doctor looked nervous and anxious.

"Wait a minute here, I'll be back in a jiffy," he told Caroline, who was still feeling queasy since the afternoon. The girl was visibly calmer anyway, because of the sedatives she unwittingly had taken.

"Cheryl? Is something wrong? What's going on?" Sam asked the lab technician.

She looked at him and took a long pause shaking her head. He could see a complex mix of anguish, pain, and hope drawn on her classical face. Then, Cheryl expelled the unnecessary extra air she had retained slowly and said…

"She's pregnant, Sam."

*********************S&H***********************

He put the flowers on the table, which by then, looked more like a sacrificial altar than anything else. He checked Starsky's Vital signs, satisfied. He knew that by dint of all the drugs he had received, his David would be alert, active and even breathing without difficulty.

Artificially revived for some time.

He placed the cushions under the brunet's torso, raising the upper part of his body while he was still asleep.

"Are you comfortable like this, David?"

There was no response.

Madoc took a basin with warm water and antiseptic soap, and he gradually began to cleanse the mangled body of all vestiges of broken skin and blood, lovingly.

The Welsh started thinking, one by one, in each one of the men he had killed before.

He began thinking about his father and the reason why he hated him. And all men named David.

It was his father's name.

Starsky's name.

David Parry despised him; he had systematically abused by him since he was of the use of reason. He had cursed him for his mere existence. And his father had been right, he was weak and a coward. He felt like he deserved to pay; he had made his father feel so ashamed and disappointed in his very existence.

His father hated him.

He hated his father.

He had lived in revenge.

And he had killed.

Everybody hated him.

He hated everybody.

Dobey. He had left him sideways. Back then, because of Elmo; now, because of Starsky. _"I wanted to kill Jackson, but fate had interfered. Fate before, and now cancer. It wouldn't happen again. I hate you too, David for that reason. Dobey loves you, I saw it on the television when you were shot. You'll pay for that, Dobey! I'm gonna take your David out of your life too. The same way everybody took my life off of me. Oh, I also hate you for that reason, David! You've stolen everything from me. I hate you!"_

He would take everything before from Starsky.

Hutch. He would take Hutch away from him too.

"You better, David? Don't waste our time here being like this, your partner's going to die if you don't wake up." Parry threatened Starsky. The blond-haired man was going to be, so unexpectedly the eighth victim.

Starsky heard flabbergasted and asked. "What?"

Madoc startled, pleased. "Hey, you are an imp!" He shook his head and stroked Starsky's curls, "you awake now?" he said and smiled satisfied. Starsky couldn't utter a word. He was terrified, and his eyes were a window to his desperate soul. Parry realized and caressed him, "Oh man, a penny for your thoughts!" and he shook his head.

"What are you going to do with Hutch?" with much effort, the brunet haired man managed to ask.

"What? Hutchinson? He reminds me of my father," he smiled ironically, "Oh, David. I'm telling you that I'm gonna kill you, and all you care is about him? I won't discuss it with you. I hate you for being so altruistic!" now the laughter was ruthless.

Recovered and with the full use of his senses, Starsky clearly said, "I don't care about myself. I don't care if you're gonna kill me since I'm already dying. But you shouldn't mess with a man's partner, Parry. I'm not able to do anything to save him, but I will hate you forever because of what you are gonna do to him. I will hate you forever! I care about my Partner." Starsky whispered.

Parry hated his words. "You care about him? You should do it, right! So I figure, you also wanna know what's gonna happen to him, uh? I'll tell ya, you know what? Before he dies, he's gonna see you die first. That's it! You're gonna die, David, and you're gonna die my way, and he's gonna see that happen. So you can go to hell to hate me, for that matter, I don't care." Parry made a pause. Starsky's eyes were red with anger and frustration. He started hyperventilating and couldn't say a word or stop his pounding heart either. "Oh, how I like seeing you suffering!" He smiled excitedly. "But you seem to be not surprised. What do you think? Do you believe that watching you die is gonna kill him soon, right? All the same?"

Starsky tried to react. He felt strong enough, but he couldn't get rid of his fixation. He was paralyzed. Parry laughed and said.

"Be calm! Do you keep underestimating me, David? After all that we've been through? The things that I have done?" He slapped him. "Do you wanna know why? The reason I'm gonna kill you? And why he will be my witness? I hate you, David, that's why. Everybody loves you, and I hate you because of that. You are too much a man!" Parry lost his look in Starsky's eyes; the Welsh's eyes were empty. "I always thought that my father was wrong, honey, until David Who raped me. Dobey sealed my future. I was 21. I am, I've always been an insult to nature! I should not have been born. I don't deserve to be loved. That's why my reason is hatred. I'm so different than you and your partner here!" Parry got immensely sad suddenly and said, "Oh David, that hero name you have!" and he slapped him again, fiercely.

He found an irresistible satisfaction in slapping and insulting his prey. "All, these men called David, like you, who were all very powerful." Parry continued and laughed a nauseating laugh and slapped him again even more brutally. "I chose them so meticulously. I was teaching daddy that there's more than physical strength and masculinity what defines a man, what a man has to offer. I killed scientists, artists, athletes, workers, just to show him." He paced around the makeshift altar like crazy "and now, I'm gonna kill you!" He approached Starsky and stroked his cheek. "I'm gonna kill you, David. You're the most perfect of all of them! Hutchinson! Pay attention! Your buddy will die like all the others did, and I am starting right now!"

Starsky began to feel sick.

He and Hutch knew the way the nightmare was going to end.

*********************S&H***********************

It was 11.00 PM, and so far, they hadn't made any progress in the investigation since early in the morning when Peggy had given them the cab company's name.

Dobey was right, the investigation was an utter disaster; a myriad of cryptic clues and the case was a chain of mistakes.

Little they knew that Fifi's would be the last of them.

*********************S&H***********************

The brunet's guts were in turmoil, and he was troubled by what he had heard. He realized, he could no longer distinguish what was more disgusting to him; whether what had happened or what it was going to happen next.

Starsky was confused.

Parry warned his dejected reaction and took advantage of the dark-haired man's weakness, he came over him again and gave him a kiss on his mouth as a preface.

For the first time.

"This is the beginning," the Welsh announced.

Starsky ran his face in disgust, and Parry grabbed him tightly from his chin and told him, menacing. "Do not reject me, handsome! Have mercy on me that I prostrate before you. Do not reject me! I saved you… You're beautiful!" and he lost his eyes over the man's face, admiring him. "You're the most powerful, courageous, untainted masculine hero that I've ever met. Trust me gorgeous, the best is yet to come so I'm warning you again, don't you reject me." Parry caressed his reluctant prisoner, viciously.

Hutch was on the verge of breaking too, and Starsky could hear his heart-wrenching screams, but the ugly man kept on doing it, kept on touching him… Madoc felt like ravishing. "Oh David, I love you. Your body's hallucinatory. Your muscles are incredible. You are so bewitching that you are not of this world. You deserve to live in another plane of existence. You are warm and generous and attractive, majestic, brave. You are very brave. Brave. That's why I'm gonna kill you; you don't belong to this world."

Starsky was desperate, he felt as if he was full of force and enraged, he'd been pumped full of drugs and he felt like a ferocious beast. He thought that he could break his restraints and get rid of everything; wanted to get rid of everything, especially his existence and the vexation he was suffering, and so he did… He fought tirelessly to stop Madoc Parry, to no avail. "You see? I love that you're easily angered, that you're quickly calmed. Just like I am. You're a mix of sensual vehemence and fervent ecstasy that's very rare and exceptional, David. You are just wonderful".

Tired, Starsky tried to fill his damaged lungs. However, the brunet felt so spent, that unwittingly he made an exhausted and deflated snort. Parry felt scared and stopped, looking at him with angst, as if something could have happened. The Welsh pulled himself a little away from his prey and stared at him speechless. When he realized that nothing had happened, he reassumed his position, tormenting him. "You enrapture me in this feeling of concupiscence; I can't stop. I'm sorry..." For a moment, Starsky sensed that Parry's apology was for real.

As if the assailant was truly amazed at the sight of his ardent sensuality, and he was sorry for what he was about to do.

"David, I can't help killing you. I'm sorry. I hate how much I desire you. I realize why everybody loves you so much. Sam... he has left me alone, too, just like Dobey did before… always because of you!" _"Oh, Sam! The instant you met David, you dropped my hand so suddenly, and you ran by his side. You betrayed me!"_ Parry wondered, what is it about this particular man, who enjoys the most loyal and trustworthy friends he had ever seen in his life? Whose friends are pleased to honor loyalties, who enjoy each other in the absolute certainty of their mutual delivery; friends, utterly unbreakable and unflinching. Friends, who share with him those same feelings of allegiance and goodwill. A bigger sentiment, the greatest one. Friendship, partnership. Perhaps, all these friends knew that David might die for them. At any cost, if it was necessary. They knew that David might give his life for them. Anytime.

So different from him.

He would not die for David; only he would take his life out of him. He had killed by David and for his name. And he was going to kill him, again, one more time.

Why always had he felt so different from others?

From the man at his mercy, which was so unlike him.

What was it about this man?

Why did everybody love him?

This man, who should be punished, must be punished. He deserved it.

Parry couldn't fathom how someone could become so significant in someone else's life. How could someone become so needed and essential for someone else, without that person even being aware of what it meant to the other neither of the other's mere existence?

Parry hated that sentiment of utter dependence.

"It hurts me so much, my David, that you are so important to me. That I need you in my life, and I'm so inconsequential in yours." He took Starsky's face forcibly. "Anyway handsome, this is by now. I swear! Since for tomorrow, my name will be imprinted on your body. Forever linked to yours for all eternity. I would have loved it to be otherwise. That it shouldn't have been you. I would have liked it indeed" he said while caressed him. Starsky barely shuddered. "That's why I want you to feel ok, David, and comfortable. I owe you that. You gave me the most exciting experience in my life; I won't ever forget it!. Oh, man," he sighed, "I will never forget you."

Parry wanted to take off the brunet's shirt. He began caressing his chest, and since he was strapped, he took his mind-bending Blade and slowly started cutting the cloth with a knife. Starsky's torso tensed, and he looked down to his chest, frightened. "Don't be scared, I won't hurt you!" He said to the aghast man.

However, the knife chafed the dark-haired man's skin giving him the chills, and he shuddered.

"Oh, you're very sensitive, David. You have the ability to transform the light stimuli into high nervous impulses, just like you made me feel. Having you beside me gives my brain the possibility to feel, everything. Around you, my life has been so filled with this powerful momentum that I don't want to feel selfish. I want you to experience the same awe!" So, he pricked the knife into Starsky's solar plexus, only a nick, and sheer panic crossed the cop's face while a drop of blood burst forth his chest. "Mh… you see?. I love that you are very demonstrative; you bleed instantly! Wonderful! You blow my mind, David; you fill my senses. With just a little nick, with just one drop of blood, you make me surpass my excitation. I think I'm gonna die electrocuted in a nerve impulse because of you."

He tried to reach Starsky, again and again, but the captive dodged, rejected him.

Hutch kept on screaming, desperate behind his gag and moving frantically.

"See? This is what I'm talking here. You're so worthy that your courage is incredible. Look at your friend there, listen to him! He's almost losing it! Oh, I can't resist you, David!" Parry's eyes oozed desire and admiration. "You spread these feelings of valor to all parts of my body that I'm urging for more always. I love your spirits!. I will treasure this instant to the end of times. You'll be my eternal longing. I'm gonna miss you, David."

Starsky was horrified, but silent. Hutch was on the verge of pass out, but the drugs that Parry had given him prevented it and made him alert and excited. The blond-haired man was frightened, sad and desperate and wanted the nightmare to reach its end.

So Starsky wanted too, to the nightmare to reach its end.

However, it wasn't happening.

Starsky wanted to die, but he had all this force in him; he felt powerful and full of energy.

The brunet was angry; furious and vengeful. That last, above all.

"Come on babe, do you want to give me more?" The horrible man insisted.

Now Starsky was fully alert. With the full use of his senses as if he were surfing a wave of vigor or the last bout of energy that someone who's dying has. Whatever, but fully alert. The Truth was that he wasn't going to consent such vexation, anymore. He had already lost everything. He knew, only two things remained in him, his integrity, and his life. He could maybe lost the last one, but he would defend the first one with all his being, so he said, defiantly. "Oh, yeah! I'm gonna give you everything I have". Starsky sounded like a caged animal. "You'll be able to get everything you can from me; even can keep my body in formol after killing me if you want. You piece of shit! Or you better embalm it if you want, as well. You'll have my body; you'll have everything, everything but me; me, you will never have." Starsky spat Mad in the face.

Parry stayed astonished. The unexpected and splendid showiness of endurance, courage, and valor was indescribable. "Oh, yummy!"Parry licked Starsky's saliva. "I admire your braveness. You're very articulate, David!" The Welsh slapped him again. "I love the way you're defiant, handsome. I think we're equal, just like me, you do whatever it takes to reach your goal. I see no difference between you and me, David."

"Oh yeah, there is!" Starsky felt his heart was going to burst, but he answered him, anyway. Immediately.

"I don't think so, David, but then, you tell me. Which one that difference between you and me would be?"

Starsky took a long moment to recover his breath and compose himself, and after a while, he said, ironically. "The difference between you and me, Parry, is that you can kiss my ass and I can't," He said, and then he gave Parry the most defiant glance Hutch had ever seen in his whole life.

At the realization of Starsky's words, the blond screamed. "Starsky! Nooo!" His pain vanished in an endless cry. The partners shared one last stare in recognition while Parry's outburst was a blast.

"Oh, man! You're stunning!" The Welsh said excitedly.

He had realized before this was no ordinary man, but now he was sure. Starsky was just extraordinary. Full of ardor and nuance, he was breathtaking. Parry was so spellbound that he decided to approach his victim again. And this time, he did it madly.

"You read my mind, David. That's exactly what I'm gonna do next; it's time, come on, open wide for me."

It was 11.00 PM.

*********************S&H*********************

"Carol, I have to tell you something," Sam said excitedly.

"What? Did they find him? How's he?" she asked desperately

"No, no… they didn't yet. But I've already talked to Dobey, and I had to tell him too."

"Tell him what, Sam?" Caroline was nervous, and she perceived that Sam couldn't find his way to talk.

"Well, it's that…" Sam didn't know how she could react to the news, Cheryl had just shared with him, but he had to tell her. "You're pregnant, honey."

Caroline felt as if an epiphany had been installed in her soul. "Oh, Dave, oh! My love, my love, my dear, Dave, Dave…" she repeated breathlessly. Dave was throbbing inside her, in her baby, and her baby would survive her. Dave will survive her! Dave, no matter what, he had left his love forever, and she would carry that love, until her last breath. She felt a mix of emotions that she couldn't describe, but, above all, she felt Dave's love pulsing through her veins and warming her heart. She suddenly felt spirited, full of a complete intensity that embodied her heart; the glee of Dave's spirit which was overwhelmingly intoxicating was flooding her veins and her very soul. She could feel his magic, and she realized that she would never be alone anymore.

She had been touched by his spirit.

Sam was at her side; he was thrilled with the news too, just like Dobey when he told him. Huggy couldn't stop crying his excitement. He and Sam were trying to soothe her and comfort her. They enjoyed with her and mourned with her, a mix of sensations was running through their bare souls.

They were all happy.

They were waiting for something to break, still in Dobey's Office, until, a half hour before midnight, Fifi Babineaux, Hutch's housekeeper, entered the Bay City Metropolitan Division. She asked for Detective First Class Joan Meredith. Dee O'Reilly, one of Starsky's former girlfriends, gave her the forms to complete until Meredith was available. The beautiful lady cop showed Fifi her way to the Homicide Division. Fifi was hysterical, she could barely pronounce few syllables.

She had found something, and she was frantic.

*********************S&H*********************

Hutch's quiet and smothered whispers behind his gag were unbearable. It had been almost one hour. One hour of abuse, harassment, and mistreatment; one hour in which he had been listening to the content rage of his friend. One hour of sheer unreason. Hutch could not withstand the clock ticking. The clock that inexorably was advancing toward the new day; its ultimate destiny. Either he could not face the liberating meaning it also had.

He couldn't stand it anymore.

Everything he had endured made him feel like he had been a coward hostage. Not only a hostage but the worst of them. All the words that he had silenced, the shouts that he had muted and the actions that had withheld; the things that he had been doing, … what he hadn't done, everything made him feel dirty and disloyal.

Everything.

He couldn't stand it anymore

He felt like he was one lousy friend.

He had always tried, by all means, to get in the position that least disturbs the offender, avoiding retaliation. He had hardly succeeded, so he felt that he was a failure. Following Parry's nonsense had been all that he had been able to do to protect his friend, so far. Whether he had been drugged or not, he didn't care. Whatever Parry decided he should do or he shouldn't do, it was what he did, and that had been all the little.

Thus, he felt that he couldn't be so passive anymore; hence his despair, his final certainty. At this point, Hutch's muffled cries were stronger than the music of Mozart's Requiem that had started ringing aloud again; louder than his friend's laments, which were increasingly diminishing.

Like Starsky was.

And that was not good.

*******************S&H********************

"Calm down, Miss Babineaux and tell us what's going on. You can fill in forms later" Dobey said to her, paternally, and took away from her hands the pen that Dee O'Reilly had given her.

"I don't know who you are, Sir. Excuse me, but I will only talk to one Detective Meredith!" She said convincingly.

"It's okay Fifi. You know who I am, don't you?"

"Huggy!" The woman said relieved when she saw him, and she hugged the slim man and started sobbing disconsolately.

Fifi was single. She was not beauty; in fact, she looked old fashioned and sometimes quite silly, but she was completely in love with Hutch.

Devoted to him.

She started crying at the mere mention that something bad could have happened to her 'not so secretly object of desire' and she felt guilty because of her delay in going to the Police Station.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I didn't know that I could not enter Ken's place; nobody told me! Otherwise, I just wouldn't have done it. Not if it was for his welfare."

"It's okay. No worries, all right?" Huggy said trying to calm her down "Now cut to the chase, Fifi! What did you find and what did you do over there?

"Well, after cleaning the house and when I was vacuuming the floor, suddenly the vacuum cleaner got stuck with something that was under the living room's sofa. When I opened the machine, I found the reason it had stopped working: a piece of paper."

Dobey frowned and asked "A sheet of paper? It had a message? Did it have anything written on it, a letterhead, something?

"Well, it looked like a note, yeah! It was a note." She lost her sight and sighed "If something happened to Ken because of me, I don't wanna go on living" she ended.

Dobey felt that he would kill the woman, so Huggy took in and asked her politely. "Fifi, please? Nothing's gonna happen to Ken if you help us. Perhaps we can find Hutch in time if you can tell us what the note said?"

"In time? What do you mean in time?"

"That is what we're trying to find out! The note! Please, what did it say?"

"Well, it was barely legible but... Oh! Sorry, I could hardly read it!"

"Calm down Miss Babineaux and think. Did the note say something about someone, a name? Was it signed?" Dobey pulled himself together and said.

"Oh, I don't know, I don't know!"

"My Cinderella," she smiled flattered and embarrassed at Huggy's compliment, "you can be vital to this investigation if you concentrate on Ken's welfare, can't you? So, what did the note say?"

"Starsky! It said something about Starsky. Yes! Something about him."

"Good! And what about Starsky?"

She became nervous; she rubbed her hands on her skirt, "Mhm, that he was waiting for Ken? Yeah, that he was waiting for Ken somewhere, but I can't remember anything else!"

"Come on Fifi! I know you can do this! Stretch! Somewhere, anywhere! Where?" Huggy asked concerned.

"Uhm, uh… oh! Yes! At The Lido Apartments. Yeah, that was what it said." she suddenly remembered.

Huggy went silent; realization got him, but he seemed to be the only one to understand. The lean man heard voices asking questions, a distant murmur, and his head hurt. While everybody kept talking, he couldn't react, lost in his reverie.

He had realized what was happening.

**ACT 35 – DAFFODILS AND DRAGONS -**

Like any other serial killer, Parry had often fantasized about the crime he would commit while having power, dominance, and control over his victim. He had fantasized about this moment many times, lots of times. He had fantasized about this unique moment with this exceptional man, with this special David, of all of them.

And David had provided him everything.

Now, Starsky was there, mortally still. His hands were attached to the iron shackles, and he looked like taken aback for his weakness. The brunet was completely drained, and at his mercy. The cop was cold, his lips were dark bluish, and his skin gray in color. He looked livid and lifeless; his last breaths, more than breaths were just like a warm mist. Starsky seemed to be like a piece of scorched, dry earth, and he was devastated.

However the destruction, Parry also fantasized that the brunet was waiting for him.

Though listlessly he thought that David was waiting for him to go and take him.

For him, to make it true, to make it real and make it happens.

Starsky had no strength nor nothing else to resist, and that was the way it had been during the last sixty endless minutes. Parry had touched Starsky; he had kissed him; he had cherished him, stared at him and adored him, during the past horrendous hour.

Finally, Madoc had won.

Parry thought that there hadn't been such man like David Starsky in his life; so he reacted. There hadn't been, and there wouldn't be. Won't ever be. The Welsh was humbled by David's bravery, in his beauty and his greatness. He wouldn't miss this last opportunity, certainly. Parry had overcome him, Starsky had bowed, he was in pain and helpless.

"Oh, how I'm gonna miss you gorgeous!" In screams, he had begged Starsky to be his, one, and one thousand times. "You'll be mine, please" Parry shouted, surrendered to the maddening feeling. The proximity to this unusual and masculine man generated many feelings in him and many different sensations. "You're still here, you're still with me, I can hear your heartbeat, you are not going to go anywhere yet. You are mine, all mine" the tormentor screamed in agony and longing.

But David, the man, was slowly vanishing. He was decaying and started becoming more and more unresponsive. Although he was conscious, he looked like he had lost all the strength and the will he had remained in him. Even Parry knew that Starsky couldn't put up any resistance, not anymore. He had undoubtedly weakened him, conquered him and surrendered him, and Hutch and everything else for that matter. Therefore, because of that, he also wanted to take advantage. "_I am a disgusting man David, you'll see," _Parry thought.

"I've got you David; I've got you, babe. Come here, come here to me, come on and open wide for me." Madoc Parry said darkly and disgustingly.

"Starsky don't! Please, Parry… please Oh God, no… Please!" Hutch muttered smothering behind the cloth on his mouth, though he realized, too, that Starsky's body was the only thing that remained there.

He realized that his buddy had already been long gone.

Hutch had lost his friend.

He could feel it.

Though Starsky was conscious, he was totally languorous and listless. The effects of the drugs also had disappeared. The brunet was devoid of any willpower, but yet, he couldn't bear Hutch's crying.

Not anymore.

"Hey," Starsky said weakly, every minute he was more and more fragile, and that was the only sound that he could make out, after all. "Hey," he repeated just a soft whisper barely audible, he was worsening and could hardly talk, "Parry, again...whatever you wanna do to me, just… do it! Okay? Let Hutch go, let him out of this and do it, please?" He had to try to spare Hutch this appalling situation; prevent him to harbor the ugly memories in his mind for the ever after.

Parry didn't say anything.

The brunet made another break; his lungs were burning, and so was his abdomen.

Starsky's stomach was knotted in pain, in and out, and he knew that he had no more heartbeats and that he needed more heartbeats to gather his strength. He was nauseous and sick and dizzy; Starsky felt as if he was floating in the gooey space. "Parry…" He insisted with his last bout of energy, "by the time he'll be back with help or call the Police, you may have already killed me - he…" Starsky vanished, sort of and finished saying… "Please, let him go"; he almost fainted again.

Parry stayed speechless, listening intently to Starsky's words, one by one. He couldn't believe how much the brunet loved the blond, but then, to confirm him how much he loved him, and his suspicions, the man insisted. "Parry... or rather you take me elsewhere, maybe?" he raised his head and said groggily "Do you wanna take me elsewhere? You can take me wherever you want…" The brunet opened his eyes wondering and raised his head higher than before, as high as he could.

He willingly would go everywhere; he was ready for everything. He had reached the end of his endurance.

When Parry's answer didn't come, he crashed his head on the table and closed his eyes, finally.

He could not hold it anymore. He had no more air available in his lungs. He had no more blood, going through his veins, but he had to say what he was saying. Otherwise, he would black out after a while and would never make it on time, he would lose consciousness, and he was sure he would remain in that state for forever, so for the first time, in the two days' nightmare, he begged Parry and finished saying:

"Please Mad, help me. Don't let me go with his last cries ringing in my ears."

And after that, he collapsed.

Parry took time admiring the man, and he shook his head in disbelief. He went straight to where Hutch was sitting; the blond had his eyes closed, full of tears and his voice silenced.

"Oh, David! How sweet he is, isn't he? Did you hear him, Hutchinson?" He shouted to Hutch, asking for his attention. "Hutchinson! Listen!" Since the blond refused to open his eyes, Parry got mad at him. "Oh damn you!" he said, and he went straight to where Starsky was lying in front of him, took the rod and hit the brunet on his chest, suddenly.

"Nooo," Hutch shouted disheartened.

Starsky writhed in the gravest and acute pain he had ever experienced. He couldn't remember hurting so much, not even the shooting hurt him that way since when it happened he had immediately lost consciousness, and he stayed that way for more than a week. This time, though he was still bound by his arms to the steel plate, he cringed in pain; he did one last involuntary movement, more than a spasm, contorting in his piercing shout. His whole body shrunk at the force of his cry, which stabbed Hutch in the middle of his heart; he had already opened his eyes before and seen it all.

"Right there, yes! Good! That was a good shot! Straight to your heart, David. I will destroy your soul and yours too, Hutchinson. By the way, what a noble and great heart he has, hasn't he? I guess it's true yeah... It'll be tough for you to replace this beautiful man in your life, blintz." Parry said mockingly.

"You, crazy piece of shit why did you do that to him, he can't do anything to you, he never did anything to you!" Hutch screamed, horrified.

"Hey, why are you so ill for?" Parry answered, and he showed Hutch the lethal instrument he had used over Starsky's tender chest. "This is my father's rod, and it is used to correct. He used it when he needed it, to correct me because he loved me. That is what I'm doing now with our David here. I'm correcting him since he shouldn't put anyone above himself all the time, and that's what he's been doing since we got here, consistently. You might be so important in his life Hutchinson!, always thinking about your welfare rather on his own, isn't he?" He smiled and turned to see Starsky, who was barely breathing…

In fact, he sounded like the rasp of a dying man.

"I love you, David, just as my father loved me too. You have to forgive me; I'm sorry I hurt you, but I have to be strict sometimes. Oh! And Hutchinson", he turned his head to the blond, put his right finger to his right temple and said "yeah, I mustn't forget that I owe you this. I apologize in advance for what I'm going to take off of you again, this good-looking and extraordinary man." He shook his head "or perhaps you want me to kill you too so that you won't suffer?" He laughed and returned to Starsky, touching his shattered chest "Yeah David; we are all gonna miss you. You are just priceless."

Hutch was transfixed.

He kept on mumbling words, and he had already started getting more and more restless as he realized what was going to happen, he realized the inevitable was near. Hutch shared one last glance at the space in which his buddy was lying; he could feel it, the time had come, and he couldn't bear the sight anymore.

He knew.

Starsky was starting to feel nothing, so sick he was; the effects of the drugs had disappeared, and he no longer felt the force that had been accompanying him up to a couple of hours.

The nightfall was leaving him frail.

He felt sad, somber. Everything was bad, and he felt melancholic; he remembered Hutch and his healthy years as a cop driving the old Torino. He remembered Terry and his mom and father and Nick, and, Caroline… everything that was not meant to be, what could have been.

He felt he was vanishing in an old sepia film and he couldn't stop that movie to run.

It was moving toward his life's ending.

Starsky felt like the moon, which was filtering through the wall slits, and he could see out from the window. Like it, like the bright and shining moon, he was slowly waning…

He hurt so much.

"Mad" he whispered, and then swallowed breathlessly. Caught the little breath he still had. Parry didn't hear his small and soft whisper, and he didn't stop the assault, so Starsky insisted "Madoc, please" but Parry was lost, so Starsky tried again. "I'm done with this, please? Stop it," he was fading, slowly.

"What do you want dear David, you'll soon be all mine" the man was so engrossed in his disgusting task that he didn't realize the severity of Starsky's state.

The man was dying.

"I think…" the brunet was agitated and couldn't even open his eyes "you better… hurry," he insisted. Some time ago, a mammoth had been settled in his chest, and now, the giant had become into a rebellious beast who turned his incredibly shallow and intermittent respirations into this agonal rattle. He felt like he was being obstructed, systematically, and it hurt him so much!

Starsky was in agony.

Since the sound he made was unbearable, Parry asked, "What's wrong?" Worried and for the first time raised his head from his victim's body and asked him, "What are you saying, David?"

"I don't have any more time, Parry. I'm feeling sick, very sick" he moaned in deep stabbing pain and gasped "I can't..." he closed his eyes "not anymore."

The brunet passed out a bit. The lack of oxygen was suffocating, and let him nauseated and lightheaded; suddenly he started coughing as when fainting. Then Parry calmed him down, offered him the oxygen, and came back; after a while, he asked him, "David, is it better?"

"I think I'm gonna die, I…," he felt icy, "I'm cold. Help me..." he lost his sight.

"Oh no, David, you are not dying; you are here for me. You were born twice, David, the second time you did it for me." He caressed Starsky's head, "but you'll die only once, and I will be the one who kills you though not now, not yet. You have to wait." Parry began to get him up from the corroded surface. He rose him and held him, liberated one of the shackles until he heard a dull moan again and, scared, put him back on the frightful table.

Starsky's breastbone was broken.

"David?" The man was unresponsive, so he breathed a kiss of life again in his mouth, pinched his nose, and he came back, barely. So Madoc continued talking while fingered his body lustily. "That second birth that you had, after the shooting, came from above, and it was for me since we were waiting for each other. After this day, David, you will dwell and will live with me forever and ever, for the time without end because I'll prevail over you, and I will survive you, but first... I have to make you mine. You'll be mine! Do you listen, David?" He shouted viciously at Starsky and slapped him twice to make him fully react, "You listen?"

"I can't," Starsky said weakly.

Hutch was so desperate that he started shouting again. "Starsky? No! No, Starsky, buddy, please? Parry, leave him be. Don't touch him!" Hutch could feel it; Starsky wasn't there anymore. He'd already lost him.

Starsky's weakness was indeed, what drove Parry crazy. It was the thing that excited him to the point of the lack of comprehension, the thing that stunned him. The feeling of having this perfect and powerful man completely dominated, overpowering him at his mercy, was overwhelmingly exciting for the savage man. "Oh, my goodness! You're perfect" Parry said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you" and he began to jerk off uncontrollably "Don't you love how big my cock gets when you do these things to me?"

Starsky was so out of it; he didn't realize that Parry had started to nudge his jeans.

"You son of a bitch! Leave him alone!" Hutch finally managed to get rid of his gag, the excessive violence he had used to talk, nearly made him break his jaw but he had been able to get free from the gag, finally… So his shouts now were all over Starsky's ears, who desperate, said in a tiny and shy whisper. "Hutch."

That was the last time he pronounced his name, the last time Hutch heard him.

It was the very last time they connected.

******************S&H*******************

"What? The Lido? Good girl! You don't have that note, do you?" Dobey said, curiously.

She shook her head no. "Oh no, Captain, I don't. I thought it was not important. It only stated that Starsky was waiting for him in those apartments and that Hutch should go alone. I found that kind of weird, anyway."

"Alone?" Meredith said.

"What else did that note say?" Dobey asked totally angry.

"Well, just that, that Hutch mustn't use his car. But there weren't any further specifications, I mean, because the paper was almost destroyed by the machine. The only thing clear was the apartment's name and Starsky's." Fifi finished saying scared and ashamed, after all, she didn't know why she hadn't gone to the station before.

"Thanks, Fifi. I'm sure this has something to do with the boys' disappearances." Meredith reflected pensively.

Huggy was still silent for almost two minutes more until he spoke again. "Stop! For Christ's sake!" He shouted indeed. "You said The Lido?" his voice came disturbed and worried, suddenly, after some time.

"Yes, Mr. Huggy. It said The Lido Apartments." Fifi said sure.

"Yes, Huggy. What about them? That's where Walter Kilian was killed a few years ago!" Dobey said knowingly.

Huggy, still perplexed at the realization, collapsed on the couch in Dobey's Office, he was seemingly unresponsive. He lost his sight and breathed with trouble. The Captain asked him again, inquired, "Huggy? This is not the time for a nap! Come on. The Lido Apartments! Yes!" He pointed with his index at the flamboyant man, "they were the back cover of The Eagles Album, Hotel California, isn't them? So what about that place? I know them! Come on Huggy, tell us!"

"Yucca, Captain! They..." Huggy started stuttering. "They - The Lido Apartments aa-are in Yucca Street Captain. I mean, Yucca."

They all shared their glances.

Yucca.

The only neighborhood in the entire County, which started with a 'y.'

Without saying a word, everybody except Huggy, who went to gather with Sam and Caroline at the Cafeteria, rushed through the doors off to the Street.

They were all longing they weren't too late.

*****************S&H*******************

Parry could feel the sweat all over his body. His nerves were on fire as he put a grip on Starsky's hips and opened his cheeks wider. He was on the edge. On the verge of losing it, and losing him. "Oh yeah, you're so hot. Open up for me, open up."

Parry could feel the blood pulsing in his head ignoring everything except the feeling of David's body beneath him and abdicating, but he didn't stop, he hurried.

He knew he had to hurry.

"Parry… please. Do it now." Starsky said sickly.

"You want me to fuck you?" Parry was excited

"No. I want you to kill me."

A dark and harsh silence invaded all and remained that way, for long, eternal minutes.

Hutch thought that the torture should have been almost over since he hadn't heard any sound coming from Starsky in the past minutes or had he? Starsky was hallucinating, and raving, he needed the barbarity to end… no matter what.

Parry felt the desire to come that was killing him or maybe the desire of killing him that was coming, he couldn't fathom. He was confused.

But then, everything started again.

"Oh God, you make me come, you make me burn, you are burning! Come on, come on, sway with me! Help me!" Parry was full of anger because his body betrayed him, he couldn't achieve it, so he let go of the last shackle, fiercely. As a demon, with all his strength, he ran up Starsky's dying body under him to the limits of the iron plate. Starsky snuffled and shifted so that his head was still on the table, but barely… Parry's fingers came up to trail across Starsky's chest and covered his belly, touching him. The Welsh raised the brunet's body, which was as lightweight as a feather, and lifted him, raised his torso, putting the blanket under him again. He was all over David's lax body; he was almost crushing him. Madoc was a beast, he felt he was possessed; he had to do it before 0 AM.

Before killing Starsky, he had to make him his.

If was not David, no one would ever be, and he would die drowning in his helplessness... in his impotence, in fact.

"You ignite all my senses, you jolt me, and then you release me and leave me satisfied. Nobody has made me explore myself, yet in the way you did, those parts of my body with the intensity you did, come on, come on! You, son of a bitch, you! Please? David, sway with me. Help me!"

But Starsky didn't keep the rhythm, he didn't move, he couldn't sway.

Parry didn't care; he couldn't have him all. The brunet was almost delirious and unable to move; though yet… even such little part of his David's being was incredible for him.

Finally, Parry realized that there was not much more life available to him and that he wanted all. He wanted everything from him because it was about time.

"David my love, there you are, all tied for me, you are unyielding, I'm crazy about you. You are so strong... I'm going inside you."

He could feel Starsky's inert body underneath him

He had succeeded.

Suddenly Starsky had stopped resisting, and Parry knew that this lack of resistance was not due to acceptance but failure; the strong man was defeated, vanquished… the strong man had surrendered.

Time was passing, and time was coming, and he had won.

While Starsky's pain was growing deeper in his guts, Parry insisted and tried, he tried… and he tried.

He tried, and he could not do it, he could not completely dominate the man, he could not possess him.

The needle's clock struck 12. Parry raised his eyes to the wall, fiercely.

The time had come, and he had not got him yet.

He got furious.

"Fuck off, David! Open wide for me, you son of a bitch," Madoc slapped him one more time, he felt a satisfaction in hitting him, his slaps were so insulting. He hated Starsky now, "Let me in! I'm going to count to three, there will not be a four, you listen? I'll try at the last intent, and…" He was increasingly excited and increasingly frustrated. "Oh My God!" He started counting, "One" _I want to be inside you, you're here for me … _"Two" _all sprawled for me… It's my fault I can't _"Three" _Noooo!_ "I can't fuck you… Oh No! No! This poor thing," he shouted and looked at his lax penis, "I'm good for nothing. This is good for nothing. My father was right… I'm a coward, a worthless coward." He started punishing himself, and then he got to Starsky, who felt as his heart was about to be ripped off his chest and explode and began convulsing a heaving bile.

So bad, so bad...

Starsky realized, as if he was progressing through an aural paroxysm that his end had arrived, so he grunted, barely hanging on. He couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen, longing for it to happen, the craziness to end… Therefore, he told him; he asked Parry to do it, finish him, so he gathered his strength one last time and asked him, begging him.

"Kill me, please. Please, do it now! Kill me!"

He couldn't take it anymore.

Hutch's heart-wrenching moans were tremendous. "Starsky! No buddy, please, I'm here, I'm here. Don't give up" but Starsky didn't stand it anymore.

"Shut up Hutchinson, he's not here anymore, he's not with you anymore, he's all mine."

Mad shouted to Hutch, and then growled, so low, so thick that Starsky could feel the vibrations of his voice rumbling through his whole body. "You will be mine now, David," and he shivered as Parry insisted and tried to do what he wanted to.

However, he couldn't fuck him.

The Welsh screamed that the end had come. It was his end.

"Well, you stupid fucker, I can't fuck you! So what? What?" he screamed at the dying man. Parry began beating the brunet in the chest like a child in a tantrum and worsening his injury. "You tell me what?" He took Starsky from the hair; the poor man gasped for air and expelled an acute sound from his throat, he put his head backward, with violence and asked him "Now what?"

Starsky was very disjointed and frail and with his mouth opened at the violent movement, he gave his answer, weakly, "Do it!".

It was all that he said with his eyes wide open, and then Parry did it.

He stabbed Starsky in the abdomen.

Screaming his climax toward the ceiling.

The look of surprise, nevertheless, didn't leave Starsky's face.

"Fuck yourself, David, fuck you!" the Welsh shouted.

Starsky's legs flopped down on either side of the rusty iron sheet when Parry moved trying to recuperate.

"Noooooooo!" Hutch's shouts were dry, sharp, painful and inconsolable.

"My blade is much worse than all your screams and bullets, you filthy beggar, Hutchinson. Shut the fuck up!"

"Please…" Starsky said, deflating and lifelessly, but still conscious and barely whispering. The wounded man began to have a seizure, and two, and more, and started trembling uncontrollably.

Parry screamed. "Now you move! Now you move? Fuck you, David!" And he started punching him in his chest again with his fists, fiercely "I asked you, I begged you to sway, to help me, and you didn't, you didn't! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

Hutch started crying "Don't hurt him anymore, don't do it anymore. Starsky, buddy, forgive me, brother. I love you."

Suddenly a tremendous sound got Parry and Hutch's attention.

"Police open up!" they heard.

*****************S&H********************

The news spread like wildfire in Metro.

From the first to the last of Starsky and Hutch's co-workers made Dobey clear that they were available for whichever mission they were needed.

Three teams in charge of Joan Meredith, Mike Todesco and Babcock and Simmons were mobilized. Dobey rode with Meredith, and they left to The Lido.

Minnie and Collins, from R & I, asked for reinforcements in both Memorial - with both ambulances - and the laboratory technicians. Unfortunately, they also requested a Coroner Wagon because they didn't know what they would find.

Cheryl immediately rushed to attend Caroline, who suffered another indisposition when they confirmed to her that her boyfriend was in the hands of the murderer indeed. They took the girl, who was still with Sam and Huggy, to Dobey's now desolated Office to give her some privacy.

Everybody at Metro was curious and anxious.

Huggy had to receive a tranquilizer, too. The price to realize that his friends were in the hands of this madman had been devastating for the ineffable and bizarre friend. Not to mention Sam, who suddenly found all the answers to the questions the crossword puzzle his life had become ever since he had met Parry. One by one, every single word were slowly flooding his head. He had all the answers to all his questions.

Late, perhaps, but the map completed.

They had found the last piece of the puzzle, and it was finished. Ended, terminated.

Parry was responsible. His friends were at his mercy. _"How had he not noticed before?"_

Everything he had done was useless.

They were all terrified, and they couldn't help but shiver like little kids at the mere mention of Parry's M.O., which they had purposely avoided. It was strange, everybody knew about it and the way it was going to end, most likely, but then, they didn't talk about it as if denial could make their fates change.

The only one who seemed to maintain some calm was Chief Ryan, who, in the emergency, was in charge of the homicide division.

But his cool demeanor would not last for long.

Suddenly the phone rang in the Squad room, and he got out of Dobey's Office to answer it.

It was Meredith.

"Oh, no Chief! This is an utter tragedy, nothing more than a tragedy. We arrived too late, Chief, too late ..."

"Calm down, Meredith" Ryan interrupted, " and tell me, are they alive?"

The young and attractive Officer started crying before telling him what had happened.

He hung up the phone call.

When Chief Ryan went back into Dobey's office, they all held their breaths. He thought he would be able to break the news with tact, discretion, even with compassion. God only knew that the seasoned decorated officer had enough practice in so many years of being a cop. However, he felt he was still a newbie with the other's grief sometimes.

Sometimes, he also knew, some news was worse than others.

So when he came back to Dobey's Office, after talking with Meredith on the phone, he hoped that this time, it wouldn't be necessary for him to deliver them. He waited for the flicker of an eyelid or the tensing of the hands. He expected to witness how the pressure on their chests subsided and merged in painful sobs, for something to happen and inhibited him to tell them

Spare him.

Perhaps, for any sign that to someone in that Office what he had to say, might not be already a piece of news at all. He knew that they knew, they had already known.

But when he entered Dobey's Office, his face snitched him and said plainly that it was not good.

Caroline started crying, disconsolate.

"Joan Meredith just called. They have found them."

It was Sunday 12:45 a.m. Who knows if it was too late for everything.

*****************S&H*******************

The voices came from his mind. "_Again?"_

No, they came from the outside.

"Police! Parry! You are surrounded!"

Parry could hear the steps of the policemen who were taking a position all over the alley through the slits in the walls. He could also listen to the movements in the basement, above. There were lots of men. He wished he could see through. Parry looked upwards while held Starsky's dismembered body, tightly in his hands. He didn't let loose of him.

"Parry. This is Dobey, leave my men. Let Starsky and Hutch free."

The voice rocked him.

"Dobey!" He made a profound pause, still with Starsky's body clutched in his hands. "So good to hear from you, but I'm afraid that this is much too late to let them go" Parry laughed viciously touring the dismembered body.

"If you don't play tricks with us, we won't press any charges against you, but you let my men go."

Parry put the body on the oxidized surface. "I don't think that that would be possible, you know, Captain Dobey?"

"Parry, are them alive?" a long pause let them hear their respirations… "If they are alive, you take me instead. You will be allowed to leave with me. But let them go." Dobey wasn't negotiating as his police training had taught him. He was just praying.

Parry was visibly agitated. He resumed his grip on the injured man; he felt cornered. He was still holding the brunet, who had ceased to tremble though barely conscious.

"I don't believe you, Dobey. You are a liar. You have always been a liar. You tell me why you would do that for, uh? Exchange hostages? At this point? I don't believe you." He accommodated the brunet upwards on the surface again; the man rested listlessly, "You don't want to help me, do you? Why should I have to believe you?"

"Because I know that you hate me. And I'm offering myself instead of them. Please! Let my men go, Parry if they are still alive!"

Parry laughed a filthy laugh. "Now you are humble? Where's that strong-headed man? Barely, Captain, barely, but yeah they are still alive."

A profound sense of relief coursed the policemen's souls.

"So I wanna hear them! Starsky, Hutch!" Dobey reassumed his coolness.

"I'm afraid that that won't be possible. I don't think that they can talk" the Welsh laughed again, he caressed Starsky's adrift head. "And if you make a stupid move, I will finish them."

"Whatever! If you don't let us see them, we're gonna burst down the door. You are cornered, Parry. You release my men, and I'll go with you as a guarantee."

"You will come with me?" the Welsh asked, hopeful.

"Yes. I will."

"And why would you do that?"

"Aw Parry, please? We need to treat Starsky."

Those were the last words.

After Dobey pronounced them, and in an unforeseen movement, Parry shouted his pain to the sky.

His pain for being rejected once again, his pain for not being the chosen one again, his hatred because David was the favorite.

"I hate youuu!" He cried out in pain, so he took off the bloody knife that was still clutched in the brunet's stomach and stabbed him again, one more time.

This time, a deep, long cut in the chest.

"Starsk?" The brunet heard and his head dangled off the end of the corroded surface when Parry released the hold on him.

Starsky closed his eyes.

And then, he stopped moving altogether.

"David? Oh no! David, no! I… you can't!" Parry hit Starsky in the chest trying to make him react, to get him back. But it was no use. "Oh no! I think I killed you… Hutchinson, I believe I killed him."

Parry shouted, frantic. And then he collapsed into weak sobbing, on Starsky's thigh while the muffled sounds of Hutch's cries and screams vanished in the frosty air.

"Starsky Noooooooo!"

For a moment there was silence, a sepulchral silence, a cold, icy silence only broken by Hutch's irrational cries. Even the cops outside were paralyzed and shocked because of the unexpected, unnatural and harrowing cry until they burst down the door and step down the stair.

The daffodils and the dragon template were already there.

And so was Starsky.

Parry had put the dragon template on the bleeding wound on the stomach, and he was pressing it, trying to stop the unstoppable hemorrhage.

Madoc couldn't help it.

After all, he didn't want the man to die, indeed. So he tried to help to press on the wound that was still oozing blood.

The other wound still clutched with the blade.

The cops could barely react.

Dobey retained a sob at the view in front of him.

He was the Captain; he couldn't break. He gestured Todesco to make the arrest and ordered Simmons to get to Hutch. The heavy man stood in front of his hurting detective and clutched to the rickety armchair for support since he thought he would collapse.

"Put your hands up in the air. Madoc Parry, you are under arrest" he heard Mike Todesco say heartily.

Parry turned around to the voice, and when he saw Dobey, he started laughing. He stroked the brunet's face before he left and then he gave him a soft kiss.

"Goodbye, David."

Since Starsky's right arm dangled awkwardly at the side of the broken body, the Welsh raised it, trying to accommodate it over the table, besides the seemingly dead man again. It was no use; the arm returned to fall off the table, stubbornly, lifelessly… Parry liberated a sob of despair and cursed himself in his ineffectiveness.

Madoc shook his head.

When he passed by Dobey, he said to the devastated man "You better cover him. I think he is frozen."

And then Todesco started reciting him the Miranda while the demoniac man said aloud.

"Grant him eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him."

Todesco had to stop Dobey. The big man wanted to hit him. "Calm down, Captain. It's okay, he's not worth."

The experienced homicide captain nodded and pointed with his head to the exit. He wanted Parry to disappear from his sight.

The detective snatched by force the murderer, and as he went straight to the stairs to get out of the basement while they passed beside Hutch, Parry smirked and said aloud. "Happy Birthday, Blond Blintz!", mocking him ironically before he left, and Todesco close the door behind.

Two minutes later, the Paramedics took in and were already in position while the only sounds they heard were Hutch's heaving.

He just couldn't stop doing them.

The blonde-haired man had no more tears, and his bitter and dry heaves of pain were still echoing loudly in everybody's soul when Dobey and the others arrived at the Lido.

When Dobey and the others arrived at The Lido, they were sure they had been already too late.

_To be continued..._


End file.
